


The Hidden Enemy

by Merfilly



Series: To Build A Future [13]
Category: Transformers (Bay Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Character Death Fix, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-17
Updated: 2011-11-17
Packaged: 2017-10-26 04:32:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/278721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ratchet investigates the Autobot mystery closer... maybe too close.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Hidden Enemy

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. Follows the novel of DotM for Megatron's fate.  
> 2\. Is a slight AU of events surrounding Arcee's story arc in the secondary canon material.

Building two frames was just as easy as building one, Ratchet decided, which was to say not a slagging bit at all. The fully built Seeker frame was easier, he admitted; he'd learned the anatomy and schematics of his nemeses early in the war. It was harder to do the next to last intermediate frame, judging off Scion's scans and some simple tests to know how much more capacity the mechling was ready for. Still, even with two frames to build, with Scion willingly hiding the extra appropriations of materials, there were times that Ratchet could not be elbow deep in the engineering, and that was when he continued looking into the furtive Autobot communications.

He realized, later, that perhaps he should have taken Scion into confidence about when he left the palace, and when he expected to get back. It might have been a better idea than simply finding himself without any fall-back plan after walking in to the wrong meeting in the underbelly of Megatropolis. He'd been following the bursts of communications on one of the older secure bands, thinking he was getting close to the source, and turned a corner obscured by dense steam and a spark shower from an exposed conduit.

His optics took in the four Autobots there, all believed missing or destroyed in action, an instant before one of them fired a ray device at him that shorted through Ratchet's fields. His last coherent thought was processing a femme's voice saying his name in surprise.

`~`~`~`~`

 _Defensive shielding offline. Weaponry offline. Motor systems offline. Processor defragmentation needed. Optical and audial systems online. Vocalizer at minimal functionality. Self-repair in progress. Reroute to secondary systems, y/n?_

Ratchet verified the reroute before he even thought about powering his optics up. It took time to get all his systems powered up from cold boot, but they were designed to keep him functioning in circumstances like this, where his primaries had failed for whatever reason. His diagnosis was a one-shot nullifier. Nasty device, but too power-hungry for full usage during the war, thank goodness. His system would be immune to that particular ray's frequency from here on, but recalibration would make it a threat against him anyhow.

Even as he cold-booted his back-ups, he relied on his audials, trying to make out what was there. He was far more blind with his energy fields down, in terms of making sense of anything. His frame was in contact with fields, certainly, but the raw touch of them was too overwhelming for him to decipher without the filter of his defensive shields.

Sounds said two frames in the room, relying on the spacing of the hums of power-systems. One was thrumming at a higher clock-rate than the other. Possibly the femme he vaguely recalled, but also potentially a mini.

"Ratchet."

Femme. Who knew him. His scattered processor pulled up her designation, based on color and frame class, but it rejected the thought, because Arcee herself had confirmed that loss to Ironhide personally on arrival at Earth.

"Ratchet, medic, Prime-cadre, last known mission: find the Allspark. Current status, prisoner of the Autobots. Crime: consorting with the enemy."

"LIKE PITS!" The roar came out with static in it, as blue optics blazed to life in absolute rage to see the blue… heavily rebuilt, still scarred over… femme listing off his details.

"So he was faking," the big, heavy war-build to the side commented.

"Hush, Grim. Let me handle this." The femme smiled, and Ratchet felt a churning in his tanks at the image for some reason. "Now that you are talking again, Ratchet, I repeat: consorting with the enemy."

"Kind of hard to do, Chromia, when the damn war's been over for half a vorn, and I'm here on Prime's own request!" Ratchet snapped at her.

"Really, Ratchet. And you are going to accept the orders of a mech who let how many deaths go unpunished, unavenged? Did you even stop and grieve for any of them before you keeled under to Megatron's so-called peace? How long was Ironhide nothing but dust before you let your vows go?" she demanded.

"Iron…" Ratchet's optics went wide as they could in shock. "Chromia, Arcee reported you as being deactivated to us, confirming it and Elita One's extinguishing. But I swear to you on my oath as a healer and Prime's own mech, Ironhide lives!"


End file.
